We take concrete measures to improve the quality of expertise, processes, and supervision in clinical laboratories so that they can provide reliable diagnostic results.
Through a standardized approach aimed at ensuring the quality of every aspect of laboratory management, we help improve their overall organization, technical skills, and efficiency.
Define and implement a quality plan in each country that sets out good laboratory practices.
Design and develop training programs dedicated to quality within the laboratory.
Support national laboratory management teams responsible for supervising laboratories throughout the country.
Laboratory supervision allows for an assessment of the infrastructure, equipment, and training of laboratory staff in order to map all laboratories in each country. It also allows for support of laboratories in their quality assurance efforts.
RESAOLAB supports the departments in charge of laboratories in organizing and conducting supervision sessions with their national laboratory network. Each national supervision program is unique, responding to the specificities of the networks and the themes targeted by the Laboratory Department.
External quality assessment (EQA) allows the results of a laboratory’s analyses to be compared with an external reference in order to ensure the accuracy of the laboratory’s results and provide objective proof of the quality of the results produced.
Laboratories receive test samples to analyze, return results, an analysis of the results is carried out, and the level of compliance of the results provided is sent to participating laboratories in order to implement any corrective actions aimed at continuously improving the quality of analyses.
Since 2017, a regional EQA program in hematology and biochemistry has been organized for around ten laboratories per member country (i.e., between 70 and 100 laboratories
per test event). Participating laboratories are selected by the Laboratory Department, and the results are then discussed at meetings to establish corrective action plans. As part of phase 3 of RESAOLAB, the selected supplier is ProBioQual, Association for the Promotion of Quality Control in Medical Biology.
In parallel with the implementation of this program, countries have expressed the need to develop their national EQA programs in biochemistry and hematology in order to be autonomous and have the capacity to extend their programs to all laboratories in their national networks on a sustainable basis.
To this end, a workshop was organized in June 2024, bringing together participants from member countries of the network with the aim of implementing a national program, consultants from countries where a program exists or has been trialed, members of the Mérieux Foundation, and an expert from ProBioQual. The workshop was held in June 2024 to discuss the challenges of developing a national EQA program and the essential elements required for its successful implementation.
Following this workshop, a technical summary document was prepared and sent to network members. This document brings together the technical and scientific recommendations made by the experts and members of this group to meet the needs of countries with limited resources, both in terms of the means available for implementation and the purpose of these programs. The summary addresses the various stages of organizing an EQA in detail, as well as the actions to be taken in the event of non-compliant results and the continuous improvement of the organizational process.